CO·73

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	alios
Reading in original script:
Object:	CO·73 Civiglio (beaker)
Position:	outside, wall
Orientation:	270°
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	0.9–1.5 cm0.354 in <br />0.591 in <br />
Number of letters:	5
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	complete, damaged
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca III A 1, Golasecca III A 2 [from object]
Date of inscription:	5th c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	prob. Celtic
Meaning:	'Alios'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 284 Solinas 1995: 60 Morandi 2004: 200
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 649 f.

Images

Drawing of inscription CO·73 from Giussani 1902

Drawing of inscription CO·73 from Morandi 2004

Commentary

First published in Barelli 1879c: 28. Examined for LexLep on 1^st April 2025.

Images in Barelli 1879c: 28 (drawing), Pauli 1885: Taf. I.21 (drawing from Poggi), Giussani 1902: 44, fig. 13 (drawing), De Marinis 1986: 76 (photo), De Marinis & Motta 1991: 214, fig. 9 (drawing), Morandi 2004: 656, fig. 24.200 (drawing).

Inscribed vertically from bottom to top on the lower section of the beaker beneath the two stamped horses (length 2.6 cm); the reading alios is clear despite breaks disturbing alpha, lambda and sigma. Alpha has an unusual form in which the second hasta does not reach the bottom, reminiscent of Venetic "flag" shapes. The upper bar of sigma is long and vertical; the two halves of omicron do not touch. Cf. Poggi 1879: 310, no. 40, Pauli 1885: 11, no. 21, Giussani 1902: 44, no. 13, Rhŷs 1913: 42–44, Whatmough PID: 99, Pisani 1964: 283, no. 120E (who classifies it as an owner's inscription), Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 148, De Marinis 1981: 246 f., 268, n. 149, De Marinis 1986: 75, no. 4, Gambari & Colonna 1988: 160, no. 3, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 110 f., De Marinis & Motta 1991: 212, no. 5.

alios is a Celtic personal name in the nominative, see the word page. Cf. maybe CO·47 al (?).

See also Kretschmer 1905: 104, Rhŷs 1914: 24, Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 170, n. 2.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Barelli 1879c	Vincenzo Barelli, "Sepolcreto romano in Civiglio scoperto nel settembre 1878, in continuazione alle tombe rinvenute nel 1875", Rivista Archeologica della Provincia di Como 14 (1878 [1879]), 25–34.
De Marinis & Motta 1991	Raffaele C. De Marinis, Filippo Motta, "Una nuova iscrizione lepontica su pietra da Mezzovico (Lugano)", Sibrium 21 (1990–1991), 201–225.
De Marinis 1981	Raffaele De Marinis, "Il periodo Golasecca III A in Lombardia", Studi Archeologici 1 (1981), 41–299.
De Marinis 1986	Raffaele De Marinis, "Lingua e alfabeto", in: Various authors, Como fra Etruschi e Celti, Como: Società Archeologica Comense 1986. (Catalogo della mostra), 73–76.